Wouldn't trade this for the world
by groovymoonshoes
Summary: Kurt and Blaine are settled down, but their lives are anything but boring... what with two preschool aged kids around, anyway. Warning that this fic contains copious amounts of fluff.
1. intro

Blaine ducked down to be face to face with Elizabeth as he fixed her collar. She wiggled about in her dress, not very happy that the collar had to be fixed in the first place. She had dressed herself today and her daddy didn't need to fix it. It had been fine until he fiddled with it, after all. Blaine kissed her on the cheek and said, "Lizzie, there really isn't anything to worry about. We're only going to leave you at Madison's for a few hours. If anything goes wrong her mommy will call us and we'll come and pick you up, okay?" Lizzie didn't really want to go to Madison's house. Maddie might have been her best friend, but she still would've preferred to spend the day with her dads. She was four and half, wasn't she? Shouldn't she be allowed to stay at home with them? Not according to her dads. She _had _to go to Maddie's house so that her dads could do whatever they were going to do with Luke. He was too little to have friends like Lizzie did. He was only a baby, after all. Babies were so silly. You couldn't play with them and Luke never seemed to show any interest in watching My Little Pony with her. She'd like to see _him _try and climb a tree like she could.

Blaine walked round to the kitchen while Lizzie ran back up stairs to find her shoes. Kurt was sitting at the table with Luke in his arms, trying to get him to calm down. "Oh, Blaine, could you maybe pass me Luke's bottle?" Blaine handed him the bottle from the counter and smiled down at the two of them. Kurt wasn't even dressed yet, Luke had been so unsettled this morning. He was feverish and that was why Kurt had to take him to the doctor.

Blaine of course, was going to drop Lizzie off on his way to work. It was a good thing he wasn't teaching a class first thing this morning, because Kurt certainly needed the extra pair of hands with the kids that morning. Lizzie and Luke were usually pretty easy to keep control of, but with one sick it throws the whole family off slightly.

He walked Lizzie to Madison's door, which was opened by her mom. Maddie bounded out as soon as she heard Lizzie politely greeting her mom, and grabbed her hand. "Do you want to come in for a coffee or something?" Rachel asked.

"Thanks, but I've got to get going. Kids who need to be taught."

"Right, well, I suppose Kurt will be collecting Lizzie then?"

"Yeah, he'll come right after he's been to the doctor with Luke."

"Cool, well, I'd better let you go, then."

"I guess so. Bye!"

Kurt stumbled out of the doctor's office with Luke in his arms. He had barely slept, Luke being so restless with his temperature, and he hadn't even showered that morning. He was really starting to feel the impact as well. To add to all the drama he was off to pick up Lizzie now, who could be a bit of a handful at times. Hopefully Madison had tired her out enough that she might even consider having a nap.

Lizzie was bouncy. Kurt wished she wasn't, but she was. "Lizzie, why don't we watch a Barbie movie?" He urged, steering her towards the couch.

"I don't want to watch a Barbie movie!" She squealed, "I want to play outside!"

Kurt put Luke down, hoping that he wouldn't start crying in the few moments that he was dealing with Lizzie. "Come on, sweetie. We can eat the cupcakes you decorated the other day. I'll even let you pick which one we watch."

Lizzie sighed. "Daddy, you know that means we'll watch Swan Lake, don't you?" She climbed up on the couch, "I _suppose_ that we can watch it."

Kurt was delightfully relieved, and took down the box of cupcakes from their safe keeping spot in the cupboard. "I'll sort it all out in a minute, Liz. Just let me get this sorted..." He put three cupcakes on a plate and took them out to the living room, where he set the DVD up for Lizzie. She was settled in right away, completely taken by the movie. No matter how many times she watched it, it never failed to settle her down.

With Lizzie totally oblivious to the world outside her DVD, Kurt slipped out to check on the kitchen. There were dishes that needed doing and they needed to pick up some more groceries. The fridge needed scrubbing and all the counters could do with being wiped down. He acknowledged that, although the kitchen was a nightmare, he couldn't clean it now. Luke surely needed to be fed soon.

Eventually Kurt ended up curled on the couch, Lizzie fast asleep and sprawled on top of him. Luke was asleep in the other room, and Kurt was finally thinking that it might be the perfect opportunity for him to have a nap himself. He closed his eyes for just a few seconds when...

"Good morning sunshine." Blaine said, his arms curled around Kurt.

"Where did Lizzie go?" Kurt asked, startled that he had fallen asleep.

"Upstairs. I carried her up when I came in. As far as I know, she's still asleep. I think she'll stay that way for a while, too. She didn't even budge when I lifted her."

"And Luke?"

"Well, he did wake up, but he wasn't screaming. He's fine, and a lot more relaxed then this morning."

"Oh, and uh..."

"Shh, stop worrying, Kurt. Everything's fine. I'm just pleased you managed to get sleep."

"Yeah, I guess I did... wait, what time is it?"

"Uh," Blaine checked his watch, "ten past four."

Kurt bolted up. "What? It was only two a few minutes ago!"

Blaine chuckled. Kurt never slept during the day, because there was always something else that needed to be done. Another thing that needed cleaning, another child that need tending to, another meal that needed cooking. Kurt was always on his feet, it seemed. "Hate to break it to you, but you seem to have missed the end of Barbie of Swan Lake."

Kurt couldn't help but giggle. "I guess so. What do you feel like for dinner?" He asked, making his way over to the kitchen, now with clear countertops and an empty sink. "Seeing as the cleaning fairies visited while I was sleeping, I might be able to cook something."

"What would we do without the cleaning fairies?" Blaine teased, having only spent a half hour tidying up the kitchen. It wasn't his greatest effort, but it seemed to please Kurt. That was plenty for him. "Maybe we should order in. Have a quiet night."

"Sounds good to me." Kurt said, with a bit of sigh as he slumped back on the couch, leaning his head on Blaine's shoulder. A small elephant seemed to bump down the stairs, and when Lizzie emerged into the lounge she climbed up onto Blaine's lap.

"How was your day today, dad?" She enquired politely, whilst impolitely forcing herself into a space she was creating between Kurt and Blaine on the couch.

"It was very good, thank you Lizzie," Blaine replied, "How was your morning playing at Maddie's?"

"Amazing! We played in her sandbox and then we were all mucky so we had a bubble bath and then we played dress up!"

"And how's Aunt Rachel?"

"Good, I think. She seemed good but I forgot to ask. She let us perform a dance to her, while we were all dressed up!"

"That sounds like fun," Blaine could just imagine how that would've gone. He should really ask Rachel, knowing her she may well have recorded their whole performance. Rachel was a stage parent to the extent only she could manage. Maddie's whole life was documented as much as possible and she was already taking hundreds of dance classes and drama workshops. She clearly enjoyed performing and she wasn't bad at it. One day maybe Maddie will feel like she's been pushed just that little bit too hard, but for now as a bubbly four year old Maddie is a mirror image of how Rachel was when she was that age.

"It was! What's for dinner?" Lizzie said, bouncing to the next topic, clearly bored of chatting about her day.

"I'm not sure... what do you want for dinner, Liz?" She pondered it deeply for a few moments, it clear on her face that she was thinking hard.

"Hmmm... I think I want ice cream." She finally settled.

Blaine and Kurt exchanged a look, and where they might have otherwise laughed and gently explained that she couldn't just eat ice cream for dinner, Kurt seemed to be seriously considering the same thing.

Before long, the three of them were on the couch watching _Hairspra_y, bowls piled high with ice cream and chocolate syrup. Luke seemed to be sleeping steadily for a few hours, much needed after his sleepless night.

In those few magical moments before Kurt and Blaine fell asleep Blaine whispered in Kurt's ear, "Today... those were the moments parenthood's all about."

"I wouldn't trade any of this for the world."

"This... this is our world."


	2. monsters and ducklings

Wouldn't trade this for the world, chapter 2

_Hey guys! There was just one thing nagging me after I posted the last chapter that I thought to mention now. I imagine that the world is a utopia, and every single state has legalized gay marriages and recognizes marriages from other states. So Blaine and Kurt got married while they were in New York and then they moved back to Ohio, because that makes sense to me and I like to think that they're somewhat involved in the Glee club at McKinley still. Also if anything else comes up that might be bugging you, feel free to drop it in my ask box on Tumblr (.com). I'd also just like to thank you all for putting my story on story alert or adding it to your favourites- it's been a huge self esteem booster, probably the only reason why I've been motivated enough to write another chapter. I have plans for the next chapter as well, so don't think I've just disappeared. –Moony_

Lizzie was grumpy. She couldn't remember why she was grumpy anymore; all she knew was that she was grumpy and that she wasn't going to listen to anything anyone had to say. It would all have all been going smoothly as well, if granddad hadn't managed to sneak into her room when she wasn't looking and had sat down next to her, tickling her wildly. Lizzie couldn't help but giggle- she could never handle being tickled like that. _Granddad must be the single most evil person in the world_. She thought to herself, through her fits of laughter. When she was with her granddad she couldn't be grumpy for very long.

Kurt came into Lizzie's bedroom to try and find where Burt had snuck off to. Lizzie, having seen Kurt came in, stopped laughing immediately and put on her grumpy face again. Burt turned to where Kurt was standing over them in the doorway, and winked at Kurt. He just grinned in return and left the pair as they were, leaving the room again to let Lizzie's grumpiness melt away once again.

Blaine chatted with Carole in the living room. Everything that they had been warned about regarding in laws, Blaine had never suffered. Kurt, however, had only encountered his in laws once- their wedding day. Blaine's parents weren't as bad as he had warned, but they certainly weren't as supportive of anything Blaine did as Kurt's parents were of him. They thought that maybe they would visit once the kids were born- but that never happened. Clearly there were things that didn't need to be addressed at that moment in time. "They'll meet their grandchildren in their own time," Blaine had said to Kurt, "They're best to just leave alone, sometimes." It wasn't like Burt and Carole weren't supportive enough for the both of them. Sometimes it felt like they could never get rid of them.

Luke grizzled. Kurt, sitting next to Blaine on the couch, went to get up and sort him out but was pushed back down by Blaine. "I'll take this one," he said, and all Kurt could do was nod and continue his conversation with Carole. It wasn't that Blaine did anything wrong, as such; Kurt just preferred to know things were done right. He was always just a little bit hesitant to leave Luke with anyone. Even the few times they had Carole and Burt babysit; Kurt had to make sure they both knew exactly what they doing. "I raised you, didn't I?" Burt quipped, and all Kurt could do was let him have his way, just that once.

Blaine returned to the couch, Luke in his arms and bottle wedged interestingly between Luke and Blaine's torso. It seemed he never ran out of new ideas of ways to carry Luke's bottles. It seemed apparent that his hands didn't do the job quite the same as any other alternative. He balanced Luke on one arm while he fed him, hoping that he wasn't going to do something stupid. It was always bad enough when something such as that happened in front of Kurt, but in front of Carole it got just that little bit worse. He must have jinxed it or something by trying not to do anything stupid, because Luke decided to drop the bottle from his mouth and Blaine hadn't noticed, half trying to feed the thin air. It was a miracle he didn't spill the milk all over Luke. Kurt just chuckled lightly.

"Blaine, honey, why don't you just pass Luke here?" he took some offence at that. He was doing a perfectly fine job.

"Why, exactly, should I do that?" he replied. He didn't really get to feed Luke every day, and so when he got an opportunity to do so he grabbed it and he wasn't going to give it up that easily. It wasn't really his fault that he wasn't around during the day except at the weekends. Being a high school music teacher, there were days when he left quite early in the morning and got back quite late. It all depended what he had to grade, what meetings he had to go to and what was going on at home. Sometimes he had a decent excuse to go home early, like last week when Luke was sick. He was practically told he didn't even have to come to school the next day if it was going to make things work for him.

"Oh, no reason..." Kurt trailed off, thinking he ought to just drop it. Blaine was clearly enjoying himself, after all.

Shortly after Luke had finished his bottle, Carole and Burt decided it was time to head home. The four in the Hummel-Anderson family crowded around the door, giving them both hugs before letting them go. It was nice to have them around, being the only set of grandparents that the kids really had.

Lizzie was desperate to go to the park. The park was her favourite place in the whole world, where she could chase and feed the ducks, play in the playground or climb trees. There were days when they would take her to the park and wouldn't be home until several hours later. Every time they were there she had to do everything, and it was horrible if they hadn't brought anything with them for her to feed the ducks. She hadn't even asked to go when they found her sitting on the couch, dressed in her standard park outfit- shorts, t-shirt and sneakers that she only wore when she thought she might climb a tree or something. She had even grabbed a raincoat and packed a bag.

"Are you heading off somewhere, Liz? Thinking about running away from home?" Blaine teased.

"No, we're going to the park."

"Are we?"

"Yes. You'll take me, won't you?" She insisted, before finally asking, "Dad, can you take me to the park today?" Blaine couldn't help but want to take her. Not so much because he wanted to go to the park but more that he couldn't bear to say no to Lizzie when she asked. She had already gone to all this effort, anyway.

"Maybe. I've got a few more things I need to do, but maybe in a little while?" Lizzie was reassured enough to turn her attention back to the TV, so Blaine could go and find Kurt.

"Lizzie wants to go to the park. Do you wanna go?" He asked, trying to steer the attention away from the fact he had already more or less said yes.

"That sounds good, actually. It would be nice to get out of the house for a while, anyway." And so it was decided that there was going to be an excursion to the park. Kurt bundled up Luke and put him in his stroller, ready to go for a walk. The park was only five minutes away and it would be a shame to take a car that far.

Lizzie held Kurt's hand and chattered wildly about all of the things they always saw on their way to the park. She talked about the old lady who was always sitting in her yard when they walked past, and about how the clouds looked like funny animals. Blaine pushed Luke's stroller, Luke having fallen asleep at some point between them having left home and them reaching the park.

As soon as they reached the park Lizzie let go of Kurt's hand and raced towards the playground, no doubt trying to beat everyone to the swings. She seemed to think that one of her dads would chase after her, but both just kept walking at the pace they had been until they reached the playground. Lizzie hadn't made it to the swings before anyone else had taken them, and instead had decided to climb up to the highest point she could manage. "Look at me!" She shrieked, desperate for attention. They behaved the way any other decent pair of parents would; Kurt waved, and Blaine stood as close as he could get without climbing up too, and roared at her. She shrieked in delight, yelling to no one in particular to look out for the monster.

Finally home after their time at the park, having managed to convince Lizzie it was time to go home when she got hungry. The family sat around the table, Luke on Kurt's knee and gurgling happily. Lizzie babbled about how fabulous her time at the park was, chasing her food around her plate without really eating much of it.

Later on Blaine and Kurt sit on the couch, watching _Project Runway_. Kurt was much more into it than Blaine was (being more of a _The Amazing Race_ fan), but itwas something they did together. They watched each other's reality TV shows, even though they didn't like it especially much themselves. The short time they had after the kids went to bed was practically the only time they had together, with no distractions.

"I think must be just about time for bed," Kurt said, giving a little yawn.

"It's been a long day," Blaine agreed. Kurt turned, to have his lips met with Blaine's. They just sat on the couch for a while longer, neither of them particularly wanting to move to the bedroom. Sometimes the time they spent in silence, curled up together, was the time they felt closest.


	3. Surprise, surprise

With preschoolers it seemed that their life was always full of surprises. Lizzie announcing that she was going to be a fairy when she grew up, Luke somehow managing to hurl things across the room when he could barely sit up by himself- but nothing could prepare Kurt and Blaine for the surprise they were about to receive. Not even the surprises that came with preschoolers.

Blaine opened the front door on a Friday afternoon. The school was closed for the afternoon because of an unfortunate incident in the science labs. He had spent his time in front of the TV, watching whatever was on and considering grading some assignments. Kurt had taken the kids out shopping with him to give Blaine some space, clearly thinking that he planned on working.

To anyone who hadn't heard about the school closing for the rest of that day might have expected for just Kurt and the kids to be home or maybe no one at all.

Their visitor seemed to think the latter.

A little bit shaken that the front door had been answered, the visitor smiled slightly.

"Mom?" Blaine barely managed to squeak before wrapping Marie in his arms.

"Honey, I…" she stopped. Blaine invited her in, and she graciously stepped inside. It was almost as though she had expected him to be so mad about the fact they hadn't seen her in almost five years that he wouldn't let her in.

"Your house is lovely," she complimented nervously, as though Blaine would've eaten her alive if she said something wrong.

"Thank you," he said, thinking that now probably wasn't the time to bring up Kurt, or how he was the one who had insisted on every single decoration. Blaine served Marie a coffee and cleared some of the mess off of the table, as so that they could sit there to talk. There was some small talk, which eventually led to Blaine asking, "Where's dad?"

"He… he decided not to come and visit you." She replied. Blaine wasn't upset to hear that his father hadn't accompanied his mother. Realizing that he wasn't going to be able to turn him straight, his father had changed his tactic to pretending that he wasn't gay to begin with.

Marie was a small and aging woman. With her dark curls and brown eyes it wasn't hard to find similarities between her and Blaine. Although having only met her once, Kurt knew straight away who it was that that Blaine was chatting politely with. "Mrs. Anderson," Kurt greeted, "it's lovely to see you…" Lizzie had raced off as soon as she had gotten inside, not even stopping to say hello to Blaine. She had been wrapped up in her game of Barbie's for days now. Kurt passed Luke over to Blaine, who cuddled him enthusiastically.

Marie stood and gave Kurt, who was much taller than her, a hug. Marie was not the sort to show affection physically. Blaine had hardly ever hugged her- after doing well on a couple of tests, and around his birthdays….but of any of the times she had hugged anyone, this time had surprised him the most. Kurt didn't stop her, and it ended up being just a little bit too long to be comfortable. Kurt raced off to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee, ready to join Blaine in chatting to Marie.

Blaine moved across the room towards Marie, Luke in his arms. "Mom…. This is Luke." He said, and passed him to Marie- the grandmother he'd never met. She took him and smiled. This was her first grandson, after all- and it was time she started acting like a grandparent. She wasn't going to let her grandkids slip away like she seemed to have let her own children.

It wasn't long before Lizzie made her way to the kitchen, looking for something to eat. It was coming up to dinner time, which meant that now was not the time to request a cupcake or a cookie. Seeing her dads at the table with a strange woman she had never seen before in her life, she decided that, although she knew she shouldn't interrupt, that she would just sit at the table too, pretending to be a grown up for a little while. She made her way into the dining room.

"Liz!" Blaine exclaimed, "Nice to see you out of your room for a change."

Lizzie giggled. "I wasn't in there that long!"

"Are you sure about that? You missed dinner!" Kurt joined in.

"No I didn't! It's day time still, silly!" She said.

"That's because you were in there so long you missed breakfast too!" Blaine teased.

Lizzie looked worried. "I only played two days of game time!" Blaine chuckled lightly under his breath, and Kurt let a smile slip across his face.

"Come here, Liz," Blaine said, "We have someone for you to meet." Lizzie made her way over to the table, and hopped up onto Blaine's lap. "Sweetie, this is my mommy." He introduced.

"My nana, then?" She asked. She knew how grandparents worked. Everyone had a grandma and a nana. That was something that she just knew. Kurt's mommy- Carole- was grandma. That meant that Blaine's mommy had to be nana. That was just how things were.

"Yes," Marie said, "Your nana." She smiled proudly, pleased that she had been given a name by Lizzie. It would have been disastrous if she hadn't decided to call her _anything_.

Lizzie grinned. She had another grandparent. Did that mean that nana would babysit sometimes? Would she take her to the movies for her birthday? She wasn't sure, but she hoped so. It was great to have two grandparents, and now she had three. She must be the luckiest four and half year old in the whole universe. It certainly was a nice surprise.

Marie decided it was time to leave- she needed to get settled into the hotel, after all- and so Blaine walked her to the door, while Kurt kept Lizzie occupied in the kitchen. "Her middle name's Marie, you know." Blaine said, pulling his mom into another hug. Marie smiled.

"I thought you might have chosen something like that. You've always been fond of names that run in the family." _Maybe because Cooper got the family name out of the two of us_, he thought, but kept the thought to himself, knowing how things were. It wasn't the time to start an argument with his mom, even a jokey one.

Kurt tucked Lizzie into bed that night. Getting her that far was a bit of a battle- but after the promise of bubbles, they persuaded her to take a bath. After the promise of bubbles, the promise of hot chocolate meant that they got her into her pajamas, and after the hot chocolate, the promise of a story got her to get into bed. Sometimes it was easiest just to let Lizzie get her way, even if it meant one crazy evening- it was worth it for all of the quiet ones that followed.

Kurt sat on Lizzie's bed. "Which story are you going to choose?" He asked, while she looked at all of her story books.

"None of them," she said, "Can I hear a story about when you were a kid? What about when _you_ were four and a half? Did your daddy tell you stories?"

Kurt took a deep breath. "Well, sometimes. Only when my mom was out- usually she liked to tell me stories, and then my dad would come in to turn off the light."

"What kind of stories did your mommy tell you?"

"She told me all kinds of stories. She was a great storyteller… she didn't just read stories from books. She would tell me stories about people she made up herself. Princes and princesses, superheroes, and sometimes she would tell me stories about when she was little…. Sort of like how I'm telling you now."

"Princesses?" Lizzie sat up a bit. It was clear what parts she was paying attention to.

"Oh yes. She told me stories about a princess called Lizzie, actually."

"Lizzie?" her eyes widened. "That's my name, too!"

"Is it?" Kurt teased, "Isn't that funny!"

"What kinds of things did Princess Lizzie do?"

"Well, sometimes Princess Lizzie would help her friends with their problems," all of which Kurt seemed to be having trouble with himself, at the time, "and sometimes she would sing. She liked singing."

"Was Princess Lizzie a good singer?"

"She was. In fact, I think that's how I learned to sing. I would listen to my mom, and we would sing together once I knew the song."

"Dad…. Was Princess Lizzie your mommy?"

Kurt laughed. "She was. And she was a very good princess and a very good mommy."

"Can I be Princess Lizzie too, dad? Please?"

"Of course. But there is one thing that all good princes and princesses need to learn."

"What, daddy? What? I really want to be a princess, please!"

"You need to learn the secret of being a princess. Can you keep a secret, Liz?"

"Oh, yes!"

"Okay…" Kurt leaned in close, "The secret is that you need to a good girl. You need to be friendly and nice to everyone. And you need to try really, really hard before you say that you can't do something. A good princess can always do whatever she wants to do."

Lizzie mimed zipping her lips. "The secret is safe with me."

Kurt smiled. "I think it's time for you to go to sleep now, hun."

"Okay, dad," she said through a bit of a yawn, "wait… okay, prince dad."

"Good night, Princess Lizzie." And with that, the newest Princess, Princess Elizabeth Marie Hummel Anderson, drifted softly to sleep.


	4. the memory box

_Hey guys! I know I haven't posted anything in ages, but that's why I bring you this chapter- I just wanted to say hi, that I am alive. Also this chapter doesn't really focus on Klaine much at all, but rather on Lizzie. I know that a couple of people in particular find Lizzie their favourite part but I also realize that most of you will be here for the Klaine. You are most welcome to completely skip this chapter, if you so please._

_A little bit of background is that I was writing about my own music box for English not too long ago and got a sudden rush of need to write some more of this one- which is why it ended up being music box centred. -Moony_

Lizzie stared intently at the small, twirling figure in her music box. There was something so graceful and delicate about the way she held her skirt- as she turned around and around it looked almost as though she was swishing her skirt along the floor. If she listened closely she could almost hear it in the familiar melody.

"Heya, Lizzie!" Madison sang as she bounded into Lizzie's bedroom. Lizzie turned to the door to see Maddie- her best friend and cousin. She loved playing with Maddie because they liked all the same things. She could play Barbies or My Little Pony with her without needing to explain how to play the characters properly. They could play dress-up and know that they both needed to be fairies without having to tell the other one. But still, Lizzie sat on her bed, the music box perched on her nightstand next to her alarm clock. She quickly piled its contents back into it- her best cupcake stickers, an old gum wrapper, her ticket from when the family went to see a local performance of The Lion King, a postcard Maddie had sent her from a holiday and a wallet sized print of a photo of her with Luke. The box was a memory box, Kurt had told her, it had held his memories when his mom had given it to him, and now she was going to keep her memories in it, just the same.

"Hi, Maddie…" she said, while Maddie skipped over and sat down on Lizzie's bed too, making it bounce slightly.

"Whatcha looking at there?" Maddie said, shuffling over to peer into the music box over Lizzie's shoulder. "Wow…" Maddie said, "She's really pretty, isn't she?" The tune the box hummed stopped, and Lizzie nodded.

"See, when you wind this little knob here, the music starts again and she starts dancing…" Maddie stared into the box, waiting for the figure to magically turn right off her post and do a plié or something.

"I don't get it. She isn't dancing properly. She can't even do ballet right!" Maddie said. Lizzie gasped.

"No, she isn't do ballet, silly! She's a ballroom dancer, see? She's a gorgeous princess!"

"Not really… her dress is all faded. What kind of princess would let that happen?"

Lizzie shut the box quickly. It had been her grandmother Elizabeth's. She had given it to Kurt, before she died. And now it was hers. It was the most precious item she owned. Not even her cupcake stickers were as important as her memory box.

Downstairs Kurt and Rachel were catching up. Blaine was at work and for whatever reason Finn hadn't turned up. Kurt wasn't sure exactly where he was or what he was doing. Rachel played a video to Kurt of Maddie at her last ballet class. Kurt sighed. She wasn't even dancing that well- it was obvious, even in the four year old- and she kept stopping what she was doing to focus on smiling instead, Rachel clearly making gestures at her to smile more from behind the camera. "You're subscribed to her Youtube channel, right? I post a new video of her every week. People really love to see her perform… she's only four and she already has fans…." Kurt began to tune out. Maddie wasn't exactly his favourite conversational topic. It always seemed so one sided when Rachel talked about her. As sweet as Maddie was, she wasn't really the performer that Rachel had always seemed to be. It was as though she had inherited Finn's lack of dancing skills (although she was starting so early that there was plenty of opportunity to improve). She could sing okay, as far as four year olds went, he guessed, and she already had a knack for dressing to impress. But still, Rachel would continue to push Maddie until she was famous. "Kurt... are you even listening?"

"Oh... yeah. Something about Maddie."

"What? No! I was checking that you and Blaine were coming to our anniversary party next week!" Rachel said, suddenly shocked that she hadn't been listened to.

"Of course we're coming. Blaine was saying that Cooper's in town next week, I think we're getting him to babysit." Rachel looked pleased with herself. It would no doubt be a party that would turn out to have a theme. He hadn't thought to ask, but it turned out he wouldn't need to.

"Well, we finally decided on a theme," Rachel said.

"You mean you decided on a theme." Kurt interrupted.

"Well, yes...anyway, it's old Hollywood. Come dressed for the occasion, okay?" a smile played at his lips. The theme wasn't too bad. He would take any excuse to dress Blaine in a suit.

After having a show performed to them (which Rachel videoed) by the girls entitled "The magic rainbow fairy princess and the famous pop star girl", Maddie and Rachel went home. It was nice to have them over, and there was something so unique about the original musicals the girls performed for them. In this one, Lizzie played fairy princess Madison RainbowLuck, and Maddie played the famous pop star, Elizabeth Prettiness. The story was about the troubled pop star that needed the fairy to give her a puppy to make all her problems go away. It included an interesting musical number in which the fairy princess sang to the pop star about how in the fairy kingdom they paid for puppies with smiles and so one day the pop star should come and visit the fairy kingdom because she had such a good smile she could buy at least one thousand puppies.

Blaine arrived home from work a little bit later and asked if Lizzie could reprise her role as Madison RainbowLuck for him. She giggled for a good five minutes before saying that she couldn't be Madison without an Elizabeth. Without anyone to be Madison's understudy, she simply had to decline.

Lizzie went upstairs later and put a special cut-out of a pretty lipstick from a magazine into her memory box. She had taken a bath and had gotten into her pyjamas earlier, and so she was ready to be tucked in. Kurt came into her room and sat on the edge of the bed with her, as she gazed at the dancer in her music box. Lizzie said to Kurt, "If you listen closely enough, you can hear her skirt swishing along the floor when she turns." Kurt listened closely.

"Yes, I think you're right..." She smiled and climbed under the covers.

Before long, Blaine came in and found the two ready to drift off. "Kurt..." he said as he shook him lightly, making sure he hadn't fallen asleep. After a slightly startled reaction, Kurt scrambled off the bed.

"It's the damn music box, I swear. I used to listen to it when I went to sleep." Blaine smiled and pulled Kurt in, pressing his lips against Kurt's.

"Liz calls it her memory box, doesn't she? She keeps things that are important to her in there." Kurt nodded.

"I did something similar. I had a stray earring of my mom's I had always kept in it, but I don't think I ever put anything else in it."

Blaine grinned. "C'mon, let's leave her to sleep." The two walked from her bedroom with their arms wrapped around each other. Blaine flicked the lights as they walked past, the music box still playing its lullaby.


	5. When blanket forts don't impress

_Hey guys! I'd like to thank you all for your continuous support- it means a lot to me. I actually wrote this chapter long before I wrote the last one- it just needed brushing up, which I've done, and it fitted nicely here. I'd like to shamelessly self plug my second fanfiction, Forever Yours, which is based on kid!Klaine, to take my writing in a totally different direction to this one. If that's what you like, I'd love for you to check it out. I'll be alternating where I post chapters probably -Moony_

"Cooper. COOPER. Put down the pony." Blaine said, standing over him. Cooper sat in the middle of Lizzie's bedroom, which she had left at least ten minutes earlier.

"But it's Rainbow Dash, baby brother. You don't just _put down_ Rainbow Dash."

"You do know that Lizzie stopped playing a good ten minutes ago, right?"

"What? Oh! Where'd she go? She was here a moment ago…"

"There are cookies in the kitchen, if you want one as much as Liz did…" Cooper just about slammed the pony into the floor, jumping to his feet and pushing past Blaine. Blaine just laughed- there wasn't really any other way to get around Coop.

The house was having a messy day. It seemed as though everything needed tidying- Blaine had assessments scattered over the table, waiting to be marked, a Barbie doll lay carelessly on one corner and Kurt's favoured coffee mug perched on a stack of papers. Kurt stood at the sink, doing the dishes while Lizzie insisted on drying them. Once Lizzie had dried she would pass the dish to Blaine, who would dry it again and put it away. It kept Lizzie occupied but it wasn't always the most helpful way of getting the dishes done. Cooper raced into the kitchen and asked where the cookies were, before spotting the rather obvious jar on the counter and helping himself to one.

Having Cooper in town for work on whatever project and therefore staying the guest room made everything just that little bit more stressful. When Cooper was around the house it was as though Kurt and Blaine had three children, not just the two. Despite everything, Cooper wasn't that bad to have around. It just became a problem when they trusted Coop to babysit.

Blaine and Kurt had Rachel and Finn's party to go to, leaving Cooper in charge of the kids. That was the last time he would be left alone with the kids for more than half an hour.

The pair arrived at Rachel and Finn's house, Kurt in a black suit and Blaine in a white, arm in arm. Rachel opened the door and feigned surprise at their arrival, hugging them each and kissing their cheeks twice. The party is what they called a 'modest success'- people turned up dressed as they had been requested, and they hung around until after eleven. They sipped wine and laughed, lounging around and dancing from time to time. The anniversary party had become a reunion of the kids from the New Directions, that had ended up living back in Lima or close enough to attend. A few of Rachel's colleagues had turned up, and they seemed incredibly uneasy around the singing bunch of friends.

After a few glasses each, Kurt and Blaine sloped off together while the rest were dancing. They stood in the kitchen, now empty of the finger food trays Rachel had been carrying out every ten minutes. "This has been fun," Blaine said, "I'm glad we came." He had only had one glass of wine, back at the beginning of the night. They had to get their car home somehow, and Kurt had been the sober driver last time. Blaine was incredibly light weight, too- so he was still humming on his first and only glass for the evening.

"It was." Kurt said, barely audibly as he moved himself into Blaine.

Blaine kissed Kurt lightly and briefly. "You know what?" he said, and waited for Kurt's response, their faces just inches from each other.

"What?"

"I love you. I love you more than anything."

Kurt kissed Blaine again, and he could feel the smile playing on his lips. "Likewise. Now we have a party to be attending..." He took Blaine's hand, and lead him back out to the living room.

On their return home, they found their living room had been turned into a blanket fort. Considering how the room was messy to begin with, the fort was not the best of ideas. Kurt and Blaine would have endorsed the idea if they had been there, but because they weren't, the fort was an interesting kind of sight to see on their return. Not only was Lizzie asleep in the fort (which Kurt decided they needed picture documentation of) but Cooper had so thoughtfully invited over a girl, who he was sitting on the couch with. She had been pleasant enough to untangle herself from Cooper and introduce herself, but she didn't get much further than that. Blaine pulled Cooper aside after he had walked Monique- as it turned out his friend was called- to the door.

"House rules, Coop. I didn't think we'd need to go this far, but here it goes." Cooper sighed.

"You're serious? Blainey, clearly I have seniority in this house. I'm older than you, remember?"

"Coop, this is my house. Mine and Kurt's. If you need to be treated like a child, we'll treat you like one."

Cooper sighed again. "Okay then, dad. Lay these rules on me."

Blaine was a little bit shocked at Cooper's attitude- that he was willing to listen. He began his list. "One: go somewhere else with your dates. You don't need to bring them back here. If you do, would you uh, mind doing your own laundry? We heard some weird noises from your room the other night, and then you decided it was time to change the sheets in the guest bedroom."

"That was totally reasonable baby brother. They had been on the bed for more than a week."

"Whatever. Look, we're not going to kick you out, but it would be nice if you would help us out and work with our rules, okay?"

Cooper tapped his foot impatiently. "So what are the rest of the rules then?"

Blaine continued, "two: would you mind not making blanket forts without us? I mean, without our permission?"

Coop chuckled. "So this is what it's about then? You feel like you've missed out because I made the fort with your kids and not you?"

Blaine went to nod before adding, "Maybe if you had your own kids then you wouldn't be like this..."

Cooper wrapped his arms around Blaine. "And why would I want to have my own kids when I've already got a perfect niece and nephew?"

Blaine smiled. "They are pretty perfect, huh?"

After Kurt had taken sufficient pictures of Lizzie asleep in their living room, Blaine carried her up into her bed. She half woke up and smiled sleepily at Blaine. "Good night, daddy." She whispered, before Blaine kissed her forehead and replied, "Night, Liz. See you in the morning."

Kurt wasn't feeling well. Blaine suspected that it was down to a belated hangover from the party that weekend- but Kurt simply insisted he was sick. Their house guest suggested perhaps Kurt was pregnant again, which was met with eye rolls from all sides. "What? Clearly my incredible wit isn't enough for you." He had said, resulting in yet more sighs and eye rolls, and the odd "Coop!" "Can't you just go away?" and "Get _out_ of our bedroom, Cooper!"

Cooper got in the way a bit and seemed disappointed when Kurt wasn't around to make him breakfast. He was slightly helpful, feeding Luke while Blaine got ready to go to work. Of all the days Kurt could be sick, it seemed he chose the one on which Blaine had scheduled one of the larger assignments. Being a music teacher he did physically need to be there to grade the assignments. He couldn't just give all the kids an extension, so he went to plan two: bring the kids to school.

Walking into the high school with Lizzie holding his hand and Luke in the stroller made everyone look at them oddly. Blaine had talked about his kids plenty, but never before had things been so urgent that they came to school with him. Sometimes they had stayed with Kurt, but with Cooper around that didn't seem like a very good idea- it took a lot to run around after the three of them.

Blaine first went to the principal to make sure it would be okay for him to go home at lunch time; he had classes that afternoon, but they would cope without him. Then he made his way to the music classroom, where he set up his laptop for Lizzie to watch some episodes of My Little Pony on. That usually kept her quiet for a while, and when that stopped working she had packed herself a bag with her Barbies that would keep her entertained for a bit longer. Luke was easier to keep happy- he would occupy himself easily with the toys in his stroller.

Soon his first class came bustling into the classroom. After the normal, "Hi Mr Anderson!" s and taking the attendance, Blaine introduced the class to his kids. Lizzie hadn't started watching MLP yet, and was quite happy to say hello to the class. "This is my daughter, Lizzie, and my son, Luke..." Lizzie squealed in delight.

"Hello! I'm Lizzie! I'm four and half!" The class met her with a chorus of "Hello, Lizzie..." Blaine proceeded to sit Lizzie down by his desk and press the play on the My Little Pony. With the older one out of the way, he just had to hope that Luke would be okay.

The students took the floor, one at a time, and played their compositions on whatever their instrument of choosing was. Blaine made notes as they went, scribbling down whatever felt he needed to, in order to give a proper grade later. After they played they passed their scores to Blaine, to keep for later consideration. He was more than happy with the way they were turning out.

At lunchtime Blaine packed up and headed off, getting yet more odd looks from the kids who chose to eat their lunch in the courtyard. Lizzie waved at all the people, flirting as only a four year old could.

Lizzie ran in to the living room, where Cooper was on the sofa. "UNCLE COOPER!" She squealed, racing over and climbing up on his knee. "Want to go play My Little Pony with me some more?"

"Sure thing, kiddo," he said, standing up, taking Lizzie with him- carrying her over his shoulder, resulting in the desired kicking and screaming through her fits of laughter.

Luke had fallen asleep on the car ride home, so Blaine carried him to his crib and laid him down, before making a cup of coffee and carrying it in to Kurt, who was curled in their bed, watching some daytime TV. He was thanked graciously for the coffee from the overtired Kurt. Blaine kissed his forehead and settled down on top of the covers.

"Aren't I good enough for a proper kiss?" Kurt teased.

"You're sick, is all. We won't get anything done if we're both sick." Blaine said, rationally.

"I know, I know." Kurt said with a sigh, "thanks for looking after the kids today. I know it's hard to have them around."

"Better than leaving them with Cooper again. He was probably busy today, anyway. They were fine- Liz just watched My Little Pony and Luke slept through most of it."

"Thanks for looking after me, too. I know it's a hassle."

"I only made you coffee. It's not the end of the world. What are you watching, anyway?" Blaine asked, intrigued.

"_Doctor Oz_. There's hardly anything on at this time of day." Kurt said.

"And I thought you would be hooked on a soap opera."

"Well, I watch _Keeping Up With The Kardashians_ reruns, but that's on at half past one. I like reminiscing about what they were up to ten years ago." Blaine chuckled.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"I didn't expect you to be. And don't think I'm useless, while I'm sick. I wrote that column, finally." Kurt was writing freelance in his spare time for several fashion magazines, the show choir monthly, and a few blogs about various topics. He did Broadway reviews when they visited on their numerous trips to New York, and he had even started thinking about his autobiography. He had the time on his hands, sometimes.

"Oh, you did? Want me to edit it for you?" Blaine asked.

"That's what the editor is for, hun. But thanks for the offer." Kurt said.

"Any time."

"How were the kids' assessments?"

"interesting. Some of them weren't half bad, but one kid took a pre-existing song and essentially layered it with an original composition. I told him he could perform again tomorrow, minus the pop."

"...which song, exactly?"

"_Party in the USA_, even considering how old it is. I didn't even realize these kids would have heard that stuff. That was popular a good ten years ago, now."

"Don't make me feel so old."

"You aren't old, Kurt. Don't think that."

"Lizzie will be five in a few months. _Five._ That means that she'll be starting kindergarten. That means we've been married, what, how long? Eight?"

"Yeah, but we were dating a long time before that. I think we've been together for uh..." Blaine counted on his fingers, "fourteen years?"

"Fourteen long and wonderful years," Kurt said, "I've mentioned I love you, right? I mean, fourteen years would be a long time not to."

"You may have mentioned it once or twice."

"I'll need to start saying it a bit more then, huh?" Kurt teased.

"Not if I beat you to the punch." Blaine said.

"I love you." Kurt said.

"I love _you_." Blaine said.

"I really, _really _love you."

"I love you more than I love planet earth."

"I love you more than I love the kids."

"Too far, Kurt."

"Okay, okay... I love you more than life itself."

"I love you more than I love disco music."

"That's a lot."

"I'm aware."

"How did I get so lucky?" Kurt said lightly.

"Something about a bird died?" Blaine joked.

"Oh, Pavarotti. How much I have to thank you for."


End file.
